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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003596">before some weird light comes creeping through</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrdinaryRealities/pseuds/OrdinaryRealities'>OrdinaryRealities</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman &amp; Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Hanukkah celebrations, Post-Canon, Warlock makes friends, genderqueer Warlock</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:41:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>465</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003596</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrdinaryRealities/pseuds/OrdinaryRealities</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Warlock tries to articulate what Hanukkah looked like when Nanny and Brother Francis celebrated it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>before some weird light comes creeping through</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I shouldn't be writing this, but the fabulous 5ftjewishcactus put this prompt list together, and Hannukah is my favorite holiday, minor holiday or not, and Jewish Omens is my JAM, so here we are. </p><p>I am half Jewish, but it's the wrong half, and I grew up half-in, half-out, so if I've said anything crappy, that's because I don't know better, not because I meant to be crappy. Please let me know, if you're up to it, so I don't continue to go around being crappy.</p><p>Theoretically, I'm going to be posting a prompt every night, but if I'm smart then I might skip a couple. Work is killing me and I've got a couple of event fics that are due before the end of Hanukkah that are... less than complete. Tonight's prompt was "Ancient (Traditions/Ritual)".</p><p>Title from Alice Walker's "I Said to Poetry"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Warlock frowned at their classmates. “None of you have celebrated Hannukah before? Even with friends, not as a matter of personal belief?” They didn’t think they imagined the way Robin’s shoulders relaxed. </p><p>Brendan scoffed. “Like you’re any better, Mr. ‘My-Parents-are-Devoted-Conservatives.’ Don’t lie.”</p><p>Warlock’s back straightened (Nanny would be proud). “My Nanny was Jewish and Br- the gardener.” </p><p>They pretended to ignore Brendan mouthing “<i>The gardener</i>” at Kate and Robin. </p><p>“They used to- We celebrated together.” Warlock <i>missed</i> Nanny and Brother Francis. They could remember standing on a stool in the kitchen of Brother Francis’s cottage, watching the pair muttering the blessings in words that they couldn’t understand. The way it felt like a blessing because of the otherworldliness, the incomprehensibility of it. The weight of the tradition that settled on the burnished metal and the flame of the shammus as Warlock listened, and then the warmth of Brother Francis’s fingers around their fist as they dipped the shammus towards the other candles and waited for them to catch.</p><p>Robin shrugged at their classmates. “I’m not saying that you have to go.” The sun was sinking behind her in pinks and blues and greys. </p><p>Warlock crossed their arms. “If you’re worried about feeling out of place, it’s not one of the high holidays or anything. It’s a fun holiday. There’s candles and hope.”</p><p>Robin lifted her chin. “It’s a newer holiday, and a more martial holiday than any- none of the high holidays celebrate military victories. We don’t <i>do that</i>, not really, aside from this. It’s not like I’m asking you to celebrate Yom Kippur with me or anything like that. You don’t have to- to-”</p><p>“Sit through a Midnight Mass and think about Jesus?” Kate filled in.</p><p>Warlock rolled their eyes. “It’s a nice holiday. It’s not about the military victory. I used to love to watch the candles burn. Nanny said that it was about remembering the miracle of the flame lasting for eight days,” they left out the bit where Nanny had always made it sound like Brother Francis was personally responsible for that miracle, (Brother Francis had said that he wasn’t, in a tone like he meant it) “and Brother Francis said that the remembering was like the flames were <i>still burning</i> on those same fumes.”</p><p>Sure enough, this attracted Brendan’s attention. “Like the tradition itself is part of the miracle?”</p><p>Warlock blinked. That might not have been what Brother Francis had said or meant (It had been years now) but the impact of the words on the pit of their stomach felt just the same, like it was a concept to big and lovely for Warlock to hold all at once. </p><p>“Yeah, like that.” </p><p>Brendan wrapped a congenial arm around Warlock’s stiff shoulders. “Let’s go watch them light some candles then.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you all for reading!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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